Professor Peter Grubb, doyen of British plant ecology, has had a worldwide impact on critical thinking about plant ecology. Besides his numerous scholarly papers and reviews on various topics of plant and vegetation ecology, he has made important contributions to the efforts shared by many fellow ecologists: charting ecology into a more exact and less simplistic phase (Grubb and Whittaker Citation1989). In honour of Professor Grubb and his notable contributions to the advancement of plant ecology, Plant Ecology & Diversity is introducing a new and permanent feature of the journal called the “Grubb Reviews”. The first review in this series entitled “Trade-offs in interspecific comparisons in plant ecology and how plants overcome proposed constraints” is written by Professor Grubb and appears in this issue.
The Grubb Reviews are aimed to make substantial contributions to critical and analytical ecological thinking. They may go beyond general syntheses and contribute to debating ecological theory and the supporting or lacking evidence base that empirical studies provide for such theory.
We foresee the Grubb Reviews, or GRs for short, to accomplish an academic splendour, treating a variety of intriguing topics as a science publishing analogy to the GRs or grand randonnées of France which are long-distance, often high-elevation panoramic walking routes. The readers are invited to take the high road.
References
- Grubb PJ, Whittaker J. 1989. Toward a more exact ecology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.